


Schizogeny

by scullywolf



Series: TXF: Scenes in Between [106]
Category: The X-Files
Genre: Banter, Gen, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-26
Updated: 2015-11-26
Packaged: 2018-05-03 12:32:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5290994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scullywolf/pseuds/scullywolf





	Schizogeny

The thing about being the only pair of agents in the Bureau who specialized in unexplained phenomena was that, sometimes, you would get a call at three in the morning from some agent in some field office who wanted an excuse not to have to get out of bed.

It went something like this:

Local police responded to a 911 call involving a death. Upon arriving at the scene, some aspect of the crime was discovered to be so bizarre as to defy explanation and conventional wisdom. Deciding they were in over their heads, they would call the nearest FBI field office for support. If that field office was more than an hour or so away by car, and if the call came in late at night, chances were good that the agent in charge, once he or she heard the details of the case, would decide that the situation warranted someone with expertise in the unexplained.

That’s when Mulder’s phone would ring.

Because he was listed as the head of the X-Files division, the call always went to him first. He’d get the assignment, take care of travel arrangements, and then call Scully. He tried to wait as long as possible before he called her, tried to let her get as much sleep as she could. Once he had her on the phone, how much detail he chose to give her in advance depended almost entirely upon how much of a stretch their involvement in the case was. On this particular occasion, he gave her almost no information at all.

“Yeah, hello?” Her voice was thick with sleep.

“Sorry to wake you, but we need to be at Dulles in 90 minutes. I’m on my way to pick you up.”

Her silent protest of _But Mulder, it’s 4:30 in the morning_ came through the line as clearly as if she’d said it aloud.

“Bring coffee,” was what she said instead, before hanging up.

It wasn’t until they were securely aboard the plane with the doors closed that he filled her in on the details.

“I’m sorry, which part of this case merits our involvement?”

“The part where a fully grown, able-bodied man ends up drowning in mud in the space of five minutes? And not just a surface drowning. It took a backhoe to dig his body out. That doesn’t strike you as odd?”

“Odd, yes. Too odd for someone in the Detroit field office to handle?” She looked at him, one eyebrow raised, and he shrugged.

“They felt that it was best to defer to our expertise.”

“I’m sure they did,” she grumbled. “Mulder, I hope you’re not suggesting there is some sort of paranormal explanation here.”

“Did I mention that the only current suspect is the victim’s stepson, a scrawny 16 year-old who supposedly overpowered a man twice his size?”

“And you suspect what? Psychokinesis?”

He grinned. “I don’t know yet, but that’s a pretty good guess.”

Scully sighed, reaching for her book and signalling the end of her willingness to talk about it for the time being. “I’m sure the autopsy will provide a much more prosaic explanation.”


End file.
